DORSET will have to wait until at least October to discover what the revised timetable for the county’s next Local Plan will be.

The council had previously claimed that the Government had agreed a two year delay for the plan, which shapes future development – only to later have the claim denied.

Planning portfolio holder Cllr David Walsh said on Tuesday that a revised Local Plan timetable would now be considered by the council’s Cabinet in October.

“This will include a full revised ‘Local Development Scheme’ or local plan programme, setting out the dates for all the milestones along the way to adoption and the opportunities for involvement.

“We have not yet had any response from Government to our requests about the local plan, but have had to delay the programme in any event because of the time needed for additional evidence work, particularly relating to nutrients in Poole Harbour, following the recent letter from the Government’s Chief Planner.

“If we are not granted the dispensations we have asked for from Government, we will continue to work on the plan, on the new timetable,” said Cllr Walsh in response to a number of public questions about the plan timetable at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting.

He told Cabinet members that the council was also anticipating changes in the national planning system, set out in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which might also result in further alterations to the Dorset Local Plan.

He promised that any new pieces of evidence prepared for the local plan will be published online as soon as they are available.

Cllr Walsh said he remained confident of having the Plan ready by the Government deadline of December 2023.

Richard Thomas from the Dorset Deserves Better campaign told the meeting that until the plan was adopted the county would remain at the mercy of speculative developers.